There are the specials of a high-end bistro, the mouth-watering cakes of a vintage tea room and the kind of coffee you'd drink at an artisan coffee shop - all out of one tiny kitchen at an award-winning village restaurant.

But it isn't simply a restaurant - customers can also buy compost, a house plant or weed killer as this is Timmermans Garden Centre, in Woodborough, which also happens to have some of the best-tasting and best-looking food for miles around coupled with personable customer service.

And although a simple scone and jacket potato are still very much a part of the everyday menu, the standards of food are now at an all-time high.

The family-run venture, like all garden centres, has evolved over the last few years to put a strong emphasis on the great British pleasure that is eating and drinking.

But that's where Belle & Joe's Kitchen's comparison with its rivals ends.

Mouth-watering cakes (Image: Joseph Raynor/ Nottingham Post)

For a start, there's table service so diners don't have to queue and everything is cooked fresh to order. It was also one of the first garden centre restaurants in the county to be granted an alcohol licence.

"We wanted a restaurant in a garden centre, not a garden centre restaurant," said Greg Timmermans-Delves, who runs the business with his wife Sophie.

"We were one of the first garden centres to put in table service. It's always extremely busy between 9am and the time we close. We have hundreds of covers at the weekend and people like the fact they don't have to queue.

A full menu with breakfasts, toasted teacakes, jacket potatoes, ciabatta, scones, soup and classics such as fish and chips and burgers are served, alongside a menu of daily specials.

On the day we visit customers were tucking into pork belly, chicken supreme, plaice with fennel, new potatoes, tomatoes and a herb oil and Moroccan butternut squash and sweet potato tagine - all with the presented with the flair of a high-end restaurant.

The 102-seater restaurant is light and airy with Cornish bricks and a Farrow & Ball colour scheme while the south-facing garden is a popular suntrap, with a further 32 seats for lapping up the rays.

The garden centre was started by Sophie's mum Beryl (who preferred to be called Belle) in 1989 next to the rose nursery belonging to her father Joseph (who also lends his name to the restaurant). For years it got by with a small, basic coffee shop which was eventually replaced by the restaurant in 2011.

"The restaurant is going from strength to strength and we're very fortune we have a very good brigade of chefs who are passionate about what they do."

The success has led to Greg and Sophie being invited to speak at a number of catering conferences to show what garden centres can achieve.

The four chefs are experienced and talented enough to be given free rein when it comes to the menu. Head chef Liz Binks, deputy Mark Taylor, Kate Wilkinson and newest recruit Callum Williams take it in turns on the different sections of the compact kitchen.

Fresh ingredients come from local suppliers - meat from Owen Taylor Butchers, fish from Nottingham Seafood, bread from Farnsfield family bakery Atherleys and fruit and vegetables from Barrowcliffes in Sneinton.

Customers appreciate waitress service rather than lengthy queues. Sophie said: "There is that personal touch. We can still maintain that despite the volume of people we have through.

"We have to keep prices down. You'd pay £15 elsewhere for mains like this but here you'd expect to pay under a tenner."

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